This copy has got the kind of BIG, BOLD ROCK SOUND that takes this music to places you've only dreamed it could go. The HUGE drums on this copy are going to blow your mind -- and probably your neighbors' minds as well.

While Houses needs to rock, it certainly doesn’t need to beat you over the head while doing it. Our better Hot Stamper copies have a RELAXED quality to the sound that keeps the album from wearing you out. Houses of the Holy, the song The Song Remains the Same comes to mind immediately, can really assault the ears at the loud levels it demands if the tonal balance is not correct, full-bodied down low and smooth up top.

With this copy the fatique factor was practically non-existent. The fatigue factor with Classic Records and CDs is one of the things that most annoys us about them. At low levels you can play them all day. Turn them up and you are worn out after twenty minutes of listening. That should tell you something.

Bass? Oh Yeah.

And what would a Zep record be without bass? Not much, yet this is precisely the area where so many copies fail. Not so here. The bottom end is big and meaty with superb definition, allowing the record to ROCK, just the way you know Zep wanted you to.

The vocals too are tonally Right On The Money. None of the phony upper-midrange boost that the Classic suffers from is evident on this copy. The louder Robert Plant screams the better he sounds and the more I like it. The Classic makes me wince.

The Best Acoustic Guitars

As we've noted before, the two Zep albums in which the acoustic guitars are out of this world are this one and III. They are every bit as rich, tubey, sweet, delicate and harmonically correct as the guitars on Tea For the Tillerman, The Best of Bread, or any of the other magical recordings we rave about on the site. (Our Top 100 is full of others if you want to check them out.)

Of course, without the right pressing, hopefully this one, you would never know that. Later copies (those not cut by Robert Ludwig are not worth the vinyl they were pressed on), Classic copies, typical domestic and import copies -- none of them are going to sound like this. You have our guarantee.

Jimmy Page, Production Genius

When you listen to a copy of Houses with the kind of resolution and transparency found on the best copies, you really gain a deeper understanding of just what a production genius Jimmy Page must have been.

To take just one example, listen to how clearly the multi-tracked guitars can be heard in the different layers and areas of the soundstage. On some songs you will have no trouble picking out three, four and even five guitars playing, each with its own unique timbre and character. This clarity allows you to recognize -- perhaps for the first time -- the special contribution each of those guitars makes to the finished song.

Ultimately the ability to hear into the music at this level is what gives you, the listener, the ability to UNDERSTAND and APPRECIATE it. One reason these commentaries tend to be overly enthusiastic is that once you've heard a pressing that sounds as good as the best copies can, you find yourself much more emotionally involved in the music.

When the sound gets better it's the music that REALLY gets better. That's Audio 101, the raison d'etre for all the expensive equipment we all own.

When the sound gets to the highest levels, when the sound gets that good, the music practically becomes a drug. Want to take a trip? Drop the needle at the start of The Rain Song or No Quarter on a top copy. You won't be coming back to earth for about six minutes. See you then.

TRACK LISTING

Side One

The Song Remains the Same
The Rain Song

Check out the guitars -- the sound should be warm, sweet and delicate. There are some dead quiet passages in this song that are almost always going to have a some surface noise. Most copies start out a bit noisy but almost always get quieter as the music gets going.

Over the Hills and Far Away

This is a great test track for side one because it starts with lovely acoustic guitars before the Monster Zep Rock Chords come crashing in. If both parts of the song sound correct and balanced, you have a winner. And the bigger the dynamic contrast between the parts the better.

Turn your volume up good and high in order to get the full effect, then stand back and let the boys have at it.

The Crunge

Side Two

Dancing Days
D'Yer Mak'er
No Quarter

Much like The Rain Song, this track is full of dead quiet passages that will virtually always have some audible surface noise. It's a chronic problem. A copy that plays quieter than Mint Minus Minus for either track is truly exceptional.

The Ocean

One of my all time favorite Zep tracks. Listen to that BIG breath Plant takes right after the quiet bridge in the middle of the song. Wow -- he knows he's still got plenty of loud singin' left to do!

Jimmy Page's riffs rely on ringing, folky hooks as much as they do on thundering blues-rock, giving the album a lighter, more open atmosphere...

"The Rain Song" is one of Zep's finest moments, featuring a soaring string arrangement and a gentle, aching melody. "The Ocean" is just as good, starting with a heavy, funky guitar groove before slamming into an a cappella section and ending with a swinging, doo wop-flavored rave-up...

Throughout the record, the band's playing is excellent, making the eclecticism of Page and Robert Plant's songwriting sound coherent and natural.

We can describe the sound of the Classic Heavy Vinyl reissue in two words: ridiculously bright. Honestly, what more need be said?

Over the years we have done many Led Zeppelin shootouts, often including the Classic Heavy Vinyl Pressings for comparison purposes. After all, these Classic LPs are what many -- perhaps most -- audiophiles consider superior to most other pressings.

We sure don't, but everybody else seems to. You will find very few critics of the Classic Zep LPs outside of those who write for this very website, and even we used to recommend three of the Zep titles on Classic: Led Zeppelin I, IV and Presence.

Wrong on all counts.

Since then we've made it a point to create debunking commentaries for some of the Classic Zeps, a public service of Better Records. We don't actually like any of them now, although the first album is still by far the best of the bunch and recommended if you can get one at a cheap price.